Broken Glass
by Fin Moore
Summary: A Maximum Ride fanfiction. Most of the main characters are in an inpatient treatment center for mental health issues. Sorry this summary is vague, but I want to let you read it to see what happens. I don't have a plan yet, I'm allowing the story to guide itself. *NO WINGS* *ALMOST ANY SHIPPING IS POSSIBLE HERE* *ALL CHARACTER INCLUSIVE*Rated M for adult themes* *CAN BE TRIGGERING*
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Fang POV

The thing about hospitals is, while you're in there, life kind of pauses, and for the first time in a long time, people listen to you, pay attention to you, care about you. It's their job to worry about life outside, not yours. Your job is to stay safe, heal. It's an entirely different experience from the normal world. People don't say that you're weak because you couldn't handle the real world and decided to slit your wrists. Instead people say you're strong for choosing to be here and get better. You're not looked down upon, you're seen as a human, like everyone else, who has just gone through some tough times.

Coming from my background, it was a culture shock.

Telling my mom I was going to institutionalize myself was as hard as I thought it'd be.

"You're going to a hospital? You're gonna 'get help'? Yeah right! You're just looking to find some emo faggots to spoon with! No way in hell I'm wasting my money on that!"

"It's not going to cost anything, insurance can handle it."

"You think we got insurance? Look at us! We live in a fucking dump! If we had the money for insurance, I'd spend it on a mansion instead and still have money left over."

"I could apply for financial aid. I know you don't think I need this, but I do."

She took one long, hard look at me and said, "Fine. But if you tell anyone there about our secret, you're out of there and in a new hospital called jail!"

"Nick?" A voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked to my left to see a small nurse with curly brown hair and a thick hispanic accent.

"Thats me."

"Hi, I'm Valencia. If you'll come with me to meet your doctors, that'd be great."

She led me down a hallway with white tile floors and gray walls to a typical doctor's office.

"Hello, I'm Jeb, and I'll be your doctor and therapist, uh, Nick, is it?"

"Yeah, but, uh, I like Fang, if you don't mind."

"Alright, Fang, you can take a seat over there, we just want to ask you a couple of questions." I sat down in the chair he pointed to. It was hard, and hurt my back.

"So, why are you here?"

"Well, a few weeks ago I tried to hang myself. My mom found me and got me down. I realized that I needed help, so I brought myself here."

"You're mother didn't?"

"Nah, nah. She was, uhh, pretty stressed with work and kind of blocked it out." I was not enjoying this. I felt uncomfortable and this chair was not getting any better. After a few more awkward questions, I passed the test. My stuff got taken to be searched through and I had to change into scrubs so they could search through my clothes too.

"You'll be getting your room assignment in a little bit, for now you can join the others in the dayroom." The nurse said.

I entered the dayroom to see a table with fruit, another couple tables with chairs, and 6 other kids and a staff member sitting on soft plushy chairs, watching TV, drawing or building puzzles. I shut the door behind me, louder than I wanted to, and their heads turned. "Uhh… Hi."

"A new guy!" Said a high, bright voice. "Gasp. And he's cute!" A semi-dark skinned girl jumped out of a chair and ran at me. Instinctively I blocked my face, but she just stood there. "What's your name?" she asked excitedly. She was young, probably 13 or 14, and extremely skinny.

"Fang."

"Hey, Nudge, why don't you shut up and let everyone introduce themselves?" Said a deep voice. I looked over expecting to see a big, gruff guy but instead saw a girl, no taller than 5'6". She was pretty thin, but not as thin as the first girl, and had brown eyes and a soft face. I'd say she had pretty hair but at the moment I couldn't tell, it was covered by a baseball cap. She had on a band shirt and cargo shorts, a total tomboy at first glance.

"Ignore him." Said the girl in front of me. "Xavier's always crabby."

"Not true. I'm only crabby when I'm forced to socialize." The tomboy said.

"Ahem. I'm Monique, but everyone calls me Nudge." Said the skinny girl.

"I'm Iggy!" Shouted a guys voice. I looked behind Nudge to see a tall, slim dude around 16 with dirty blonde, swoopy hair and blue eyes that were staring just to the side of the TV.

"He's blind." Whispered Nudge.

"I can hear you!"

"Well it's true!"

"Shut up!" He teasingly pushed her, though I wasn't sure that was the best idea, she was so thin her legs could snap at any time.

Suddenly I was attacked by a short but strong object, and toppled over. "Hi! I'm Gassy!" Said a kid, probably 9, with blonde hair and bright blue eyes and speckled with freckles. He jumped up and ran back to his seat to draw, though you could tell he'd rather run around. "This is my sister, Angel." He gestured towards a small girl, with the same blonde hair and blue eyes, though her hair was curlier and didn't go further than her chin. "She's 7, but she doesn't like to talk much." She stared at me with those big blue eyes and my heart melted a little.

"There's also Ari and Dylan, but they're in their rooms right now." said Nudge. "And I think Ella's off cleaning or something."

"I'm right here." said a voice behind me. I turned around to see a young girl, probably 14, walk in through the door. She was cute, with straight brown hair and forehead bangs, and the same brown eyes as the tomboy. "Hi, I'm Ella." She said and put out her hand, which I shook. I noticed her outfit was entirely on point, as if she spent all morning making sure her cuffs were straight.

"And the quote unquote 'tomboy' you've met is Max. She has multiple personality disorder, and Xavier is one of those personalities."

"It's dissociative identity disorder." Xavier said.

"Whatever. And the last one…"

"Hi!" Intruded a girls voice. "I'm Lissa! Pleasure to meet you." Lissa was kind of cute, in a teddy bear kind of way, and was pretty pudgy, but not fat.

"Welcome to the hospital, Fang."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, my lovely readers! I'm sorry about that last chapter, it was pretty dull and amateur, but in general, I hate character introductions and am pretty bad at them. Now that there over though, (phew) I'm excited to move into character background! EEP! Enjoy!**

Lissa POV

The new guy was pretty cute, what was his name again? Ned? Nate? Oh yeah! It was Nick, doi. Anyways, yeah, hes kinda hot, what with his dark clothes, leather jacket and black bangs swept across his eyes. He was pretty tall, though, which I am not. I'm short and pudgy, just like my mama. We'd probably never be anything. He looks like he'd go more for Nudge, or Max or something. The thin ones. Maybe not Nudge, she's a little too thin. "So, what brings you to Lakeview Hospital?" I asked, hoping it was nonchalant.

"I'd rather not talk about it..."

"C'mon you can trust us!"

"Yeah, sure you can." said a sarcastic voice. I tilted my head to glare at Xavier or Max or whoever it was that said that. "What? It's true. Nudge can't keep a secret if her life depended on it, Iggy would just use it as blackmail, Gassy would forget to keep it a secret, and Ella tells the doctors fucking everything."

"Hey! No profanity!" Yelled Ben, our current adult supervisor. All the rules are super strict here.

"Well, I just want to know how he got stuck in here, Max!" I shouted, before clasping my mouth shut. "I-I'm sorry, Xavier." I looked to see him push himself out of the chair and storm out of the room, then the slam of Max's room door.

"God, can't you guys not get into trouble for five minutes? It's almost lunch time and now 3 kids are locked in their rooms!" The supervisor stormed out to begin attempting to wrangle up the kids right when the lunch cart arrived. Everyone got up to grab their trays of food and choose a table to sit at. I got mac 'n cheese and sat down by Fang, who had the standard 'I got here after the menus were given' casserole.

"Uggh, gross, I thought long term hospitals would have better food." He said as he choked down a bite.

"It's just the casserole that stinks. I'll finish it if you want." I told him.

"Ben wouldn't be crazy about that." Intruded Nudge, coming to join us. "They monitor everything we eat, especially me and Lissa."

"Whatever. I'd eat it before he got here anyways." I said, taking a big bite of mac 'n cheese.

"So, what about the two guys I haven't met yet?" Asked Fang with a mouthful of food.

"Oh, Ari and Dylan? You'll meet them soon enough, but Ari is kind of secluded."

As if on cue, the door quietly creaked open and in came Ari, a Native American muscle man, still in his pajamas. "Hey, Ari!"

His head quickly cocked over to Nudge. "Oh, uhh hey. What's up?" He took a seat at an empty table nearby.

"Not a ton. Ben said he'd consider getting me an outside pass to go get my hair done. I'm over the curly. And Lissa and Max got into a fight again."

"Was it Max? Or..."

"Xavier."

"Just as I thought. You guys don't get along too well, do you?" He said, facing me.

"No, I guess not. Oh! And this is Fang, the new guy." I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. He quickly flinched away.

"Fang? Cool name."

"Uhh, thanks."

"So, what have you been doing all day?" I asked, trying to make it less awkward.

"Oh, you know, fighting panic attacks, listening to Dylan punch walls, the usual."

"Speaking of, where is Dylan?"

"He's talking to Max. But if Xavier's still around we don't have to worry."

I looked behind me through the window to the hallway and saw an angry Max pushing away an intimidating blondie. "No, it's just Max now."

"I'll go tell Ben." Said Ari with a sigh. Fang turned to face me.

"How could you tell it was Max?" he asked.

"Oh, they all dress a little differently." I replied

"Yeah, Max has her hair down normally, Fin usually has braids, Xavier hides the hair under a hat and wears baggy clothes, Ariel does this weird thing with barrettes to get that whole 'half-shaved head' look, Annie has pigtails, Eli has a ponytail, Jess/Iggy wears a high ponytail, Grace wears a french braid, Evelyn has an overall messy 'I don't give a flying fuck' look, Bea has a fishtail, Jason does what Xavier does but with a fedora-"

"OK, Nudge, he gets the point. She has a lot of alters. It takes a while to get used to."

The door was crashed open and an angry Ben and even angrier Dylan bolted in. "You know you're not supposed to be talking to her!" Ben yelled.

"Who gives a shit?! She's my girlfriend!" He retorted, trying to get in Ben's face.

"Because of your behavior, you will be eating in your room." He grabbed the tray of food and brought Dylan to his dorm. Ari and Max quietly walked in and Max joined us at our table.

"Is he really your boyfriend?" Fang asked.

"Nah. We broke up a while ago for... reasons. Nudge, are you seriously not going to eat your food?"

She quietly shook her head.

"I see. You know I worry. You need food." She gave her a stern look.

"Lissa, can I talk to you?" asked my therapist, poking her head through the door. I pushed myself out of my chair and followed her to her office.


End file.
